Jack Kennedy is the British Supersport Champion

In a dramatic Saturday at Brands Hatch for the Bennetts British Superbike season finale, Jack Kennedy secures the British Supersport championship for Honda Racing UK with win number nine of the season.

Changeable October weather played a crucial part in the trajectory of the day’s racing as almost every session that Honda Racing UK participated in was in different conditions. And with so much at stake, cool heads were required to ensure that the right decisions were made at all the right times whilst under enormous pressure.

For Jack Kennedy and his crew, tyre choice in a wet but drying qualifying session was critical to providing Jack with the bike, and rubber, underneath him to rocket his way to pole position. Then as the red flag was waved bringing his race to a premature end, they made the right call once more to send him back out on wet tyres in the  five-lap restarted race. From pole once more and with his championship rivals opting for slicks, Jack launched away from the line and rode off into the distance with the rain intensifying to secure his ninth win of the season and championship victory.

Already the most decorated British Supersport rider in history, Kennedy rewrites the history books as a five times champion and becomes the first Honda rider to win the British Supersport crown since Sam Lowes in 2010. With one race still remaining this season he has so far raced to nine victories (including two doubles – Knockhill & Brands Hatch), four seconds and a further two third place finishes.

In British Superbike things were no less dramatic for riders Tommy Bridewell and Andrew Irwin as they raced through heavy rainfall for twenty laps in the opening BSB race of the weekend. From sixth on the grid Tommy once more showed the sheer grit and determination with which he has ridden all year to secure a vital rostrum finish in third. This crucial result cuts Kyle’s lead in the championship to a single point with two races remaining tomorrow. Andrew Irwin meanwhile, struggled for feel from his Fireblade and achieved an eleventh place finish at the flag.

For Dean Harrison it was an eventful day that sadly culminated in a crash out of second place in the shortened five lap Supersport dash. He does however, start tomorrows feature race from pole position having set the quickest lap in today’s race.

Team Manager Havier Beltran

What a fantastic result for Jack and the team! Jack has been a breath of fresh air in the team this year and he has impressed me enormously with his determination, professionalism and attention to detail. His hunger to secure his fifth championship and to help drive this project forward has been relentless, and this championship victory is a just reward for his remarkable talent on a motorcycle. It is also a credit to every member of this team, it is their dedication, their commitment to the long hours and their unwavering work ethic that has built the platform on which Jack can deliver on the circuit. There is not a single team member who has not impressed me this year and I thank every one of them for their contribution to this team.

#1 Tommy Bridewell

Honestly it was hard because any race over 20 laps in the wet is! In the wet conditions, it’s not the physical side, it’s keeping your focus. You don’t ever get any margin to make a mistake if you clip a white line, brake a bit too hard, if you run wide. There’s no margin. I knew we needed to get away, we’ve got a new swing arm this weekend and for the race the team took a calculated risk with the setup. The bike was working great, and I just knew I needed to get away with the front guys. It was nice to see on my pit board that I had like an eight and a half second gap. Just the last five laps when the track was drying out I just started to spin up a little bit. And no disrespect to those guys, but where the Yamaha is just a little bit more docile it kind of chugs along if you like. I’m happy, honestly. Those conditions are so easy to make a mistake and we didn’t. We went in four points behind, we’ve come out of it one point behind. A three point gain is better than no points. And it sets it up tomorrow really nicely because in the dry I feel like the bike is working really well. I feel great on the bike and I feel like I can really just attack. I’m excited – which is strange when there’s so much at stake. May the best man win!

#18 Andrew Irwin

I struggled in the race today to get confidence and feel, which ultimately made it very difficult for me to make any progress and cost me to much time. As the conditions started to dry later in the race the feeling started to come back to me but by that point the race is done and the guys in front had gone. We have ninth on the grid tomorrow which is a step forward. I have to say a thank you for the team for rebuilding the bike in such a short space of time in qualifying after I crashed on Glenn’s oil. And I also want to congratulate Jack on his championship victory, he has ridden the wheels off that bike all year and I look forward to celebrating with him.

#4 Jack Kennedy

I am absolutely lost for words! I did not expect this today at all, I really didn’t think that I could get it done because the championship is too close and I thought there was no way that Ben or Luke wouldn’t finish in the top three. I think it all started with qualifying onwards and making the right decisions at all the right times. I want to say a massive, massive thank you to this Honda team, I get to go out on track and show everybody my class but I wouldn’t be able to do it without the team.  It is down to these last minute decisions and how quickly you can make the changes, and you know, we have changed our mind about tyres for most of the weekend with the weather. In the race we made a brave choice to go for wet tyres because as we left for the grid the rain wasn’t that heavy. Then on the grid I was screaming to myself inside my helmet because I knew we made the right decision and the rain was getting heavier and heavier. I felt that I was riding a safe race and the gap just kept getting bigger and bigger, which is such a good feeling. I want to thank everybody who helps me, all my sponsors, my family, and everyone who supports, everyone knows how much hard work goes on behind the scenes to pull something like this off so I want to say thank you. I can enjoy tonight, relax tomorrow a little, but not on track because anyone who knows me will know I will be going out again tomorrow to get that win.

#5 Dean Harrison

To say that today has been eventful would be putting it bluntly! Qualifying didn’t go as planned, the rain was falling and we switched tyres three times before we had even left pit lane, and that’s before we had two red flags. So I never really got a flow on in qualifying and ended up starting the race from tenth. In the dry race I made some good progress to be fair and was up in a group battling well inside the top ten, then the race was red flagged. Then we made the right call for the restarted shorter race and went with a wet tyre and I tucked the front at Paddock Hill whilst running second. So all in all, today was eventful. We start pole tomorrow so we will see what we can do from there.

Honda Racing UK rounds out a rollercoaster year just one point away from the BSB title

Following the culmination of the Bennetts British Superbike season finale, Tommy Bridewell and the Honda Racing UK finish second in the championship standings, just one point adrift of the top spot.

Brands Hatch, Kent played host to the 2024 season finale and it was another rollercoaster of a Sunday for Honda Racing UK. Having secured the British Supersport championship the day prior it was the turn of the BSB riders to decide the outcome of the series.

Tommy Bridewell, just one point adrift of his championship rival Kyle Ryde heading into the day, raced his heart out in a titanic scrap in race one to victory number three of the year and with it stole the championship lead by four points. With pole position also secured for race three, and with Kyle second on the grid, it was all to play for. in the feature race later in the day.

What followed was nothing short of heroic and surely a race that will go down in the history books as one of the best. Tommy and Kyle both displayed their class with sensational overtakes lap after lap, and the championship changing hands with every pass. Such was the pace of the race that a seven-year-old lap record was broken by Tommy too.

The fairy tale though just wasn’t meant to be as Tommy would ultimately cross the line in second place having left absolutely nothing on the table and played his part in a race of the ages. His podium finish took his season tally to three wins, thirteen seconds and three third-place finishes in a remarkable first year with the Honda Racing UK team.

Andrew Irwin delivered another two solid top tens with a solid sixth place finish in race two and a ninth in race three after playing wingman to teammate Tommy for most of the early stages of the race.

In Supersport, Jack Kennedy made it back to back wins to secure his third double victory of the season and his twenty-fifth career double. He also secured a new lap record for good measure. His championship-winning season has been sensational, with ten victories, four seconds and two third-place finishes. Dean Harrison raced hard from pole position in the Supersport race to secure yet another top-six finish.

Team Manager Havier Beltran

When Tommy joined us at the end of last season both he and Honda took some stick and people questioned how competitive we would be. So to witness the season that he has put together, riding with that all of the grit and determination that he is renowned for has been fantastic. Yes there have been challenges, twists and turns, but with a new Fireblade and a new team to finish second in the championship by a single point is a testament to him and the team. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved as a team this year and I want to thank each and every member of our team once more. I also want to extend a thank you to our partners  & sponsors; Motul; Close Brothers Vehicle Hire; Performance Parts & Akrapovic; RK Chains; STM; Marke Creative; Hummingbird Logistics; Impact design; Evotech; Spraybay; MWR; MRA; Clean Energy Living; Carbonin; Hexagon; Goodridge; SBS; GB Racing & Eazi-Grip for all of their support this year.  It has been a year to remember.

#1 Tommy Bridewell

Of course I am disappointed, I am a bike racer and I come to win. I believed in this project from the outset and knew from the outset that there was no doubt in my mind that I would be stood here as a either a two-times British champion or in the position that I am in now. I couldn’t have done any more, and as a racer you can only give your all, and that’s exactly what I have done. My nearest competitors were a mile behind, to be honest it was just me and Kyle all year, and hand on heart, I couldn’t have lost to a better kid, I am genuinely so happy for him and his team. I know what it’s like in that position, he was under immense pressure and he handled it. I am gutted for Honda, I gave it my all and tried my hardest all year. We just need to work on a few areas, try to improve the wheelie so I can get off the rear brake, but hey, what a last race at the end of the year. I want to sign off by saying thank you to the team, I’ve given them a hard time in moments but I know just how much work goes on behind the scenes and I know just how much potential there is to still be realised. I am honestly, really happy with the work that we have done and for what we have achieved.

#18 Andrew Irwin

I think all in all today has been a decent day of racing, yes the results were not perhaps the maximum of what we could’ve achieved when and I certainly don’t get too excited with top sixes, but once again we have shown the speed that we are capable of this weekend and delivered two decent point scoring finishes. The bike has kept on feeling better and better all weekend and we have continued to make progress which is all you can ask for. In the last race, I got such a good start and did everything I could to play the team game for as long as possible, then when Vickers came past I struggled to keep my rhythm and lost touch with the front guys. I want to say a big thank you to my team, and to congratulate everyone for all of their hard work this year, Tommy has shown what the package is capable of and shown that the Honda is a title-fighting package.

#4 Jack Kennedy

I am on top of the world! That race sort of felt like a dream, to have a gap go up that much in this class is unreal. I honestly thought that Luke wasn’t in the race, that was how much I was in disbelief at how much we were gapping everyone. I broke the lap record which meant so much because I think it was Luke’s too which will surely annoy him more taking it off him! I felt really good so just pushed the pace even though I didn’t need to with the gap we had but I felt super comfortable and just kept it going and never let up. I was so keen to put on a performance for myself and the team. To ride the CBR600RR that hard is only possible thanks to the team, it’s them that put the bike beneath me. This weekend could not have gone any better, you could say there has been some luck on our side this weekend but you have to put in the hard work to sometimes get the luck to come your way. I am over the moon, it’s probably the best weekend of the year because it meant the most and it was the most important one. This weekend couldn’t have been any more satisfying, I’ve stamped my authority on this class and let everyone know who’s boss.

#5 Dean Harrison

I’ve gone faster around Brands Hatch on a 600 than I have ever gone, I’ve got my first pole position and finished the season with another top six, so there are loads of positives to take away from this weekend. I think today we were just lacking the dry time needed to keep running with the front guys as in the race I began to realise where with the setting I needed things to be a little different. But look, the front guys are running at lap record pace almost every round and you have got to be absolutely perfect to be up there with them. Congratulations to Jack on his championship and to everyone in the team for all of their hard work all year, they have not stopped for a moment and have grafted from the off.